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Onward develops bold and practical ideas for the next generation of centre right thinkers and leaders

REPORT
Give back control: Realising the potential of England's mayors

The Government should unleash a wave of devolution to mayors to level up growth and boost their electoral prospects

REPORT
Street Bids: How compulsory rent auctions could save Britain’s high streets

Forcing landlords to lease vacant shops via a compulsory rent auction could bring up to 58,000 empty high street units back into use.

REPORT
Levelling Up in Practice: Oldham Interim Report

Onward launches first-of-a-kind programme to help level up left behind areas.

Jul 18
11:00-
13:15
EVENT

Securing the Future

Future Energy Scenarios 2022: How can we enable a future energy system that is secure, clean, affordable and fair?
Jul 6
15:00-
16:15
EVENT

Right to Let

A private roundtable with Eddie Hughes MP
with:
Jun 29
18:00-
20:30
EVENT

Onward After Hours: Andrew Bowie MP

Onward After Hours
An Onward drink reception with Andrew Bowie MP
with:
Recent press
Boris Johnson abandons net zero at his peril
Climate change: Scrapping net zero target could cost Conservatives 1.3 million votes, think tank warns
Blowin’ in the wind
£60,000 not enough for job at Treasury’s new northern outpost
A bold energy strategy won’t help households in the short term
The rich Yorkshire towns where young people are left behind and can’t find work
REPORT
Give back control: Realising the potential of England's mayors

The Government should unleash a wave of devolution to mayors to level up growth and boost their electoral prospects

REPORT
Street Bids: How compulsory rent auctions could save Britain’s high streets

Forcing landlords to lease vacant shops via a compulsory rent auction could bring up to 58,000 empty high street units back into use.

REPORT
Levelling Up in Practice: Oldham Interim Report

Onward launches first-of-a-kind programme to help level up left behind areas.

Jul 18
11:00-
13:15
EVENT

Securing the Future

Future Energy Scenarios 2022: How can we enable a future energy system that is secure, clean, affordable and fair?
Jun 29
18:00-
20:30
EVENT

Onward After Hours: Andrew Bowie MP

Onward After Hours
An Onward drink reception with Andrew Bowie MP
with:
Jul 6
15:00-
16:15
EVENT

Right to Let

A private roundtable with Eddie Hughes MP
with:

Onward develops bold and practical ideas for the next generation of centre right thinkers and leaders

Our mission​

Onward is a modernising think tank whose mission is to develop bold and practical ideas to boost economic opportunity and strengthen communities in all parts of the United Kingdom.

We are not affiliated to any party but believe in a mainstream conservatism. We recognise the value of markets and support the good that government can do, and believe that a strong society is the foundation of both. We want to seize the opportunities of the future while preserving the accumulated knowledge of the past. We believe that most people are hard working, aspirational and decent, but that many do not have the opportunities to fulfil their potential.

Our goal is to address the needs of the whole country: young as well as old; urban as well as rural; in all parts of the UK – particularly places that feel neglected or ignored in Westminster – by working with ordinary people directly and developing practical policies that work.

"Into the arena, Onward stepped. The in-flight refueller. The next modernising thinktank. The engine which ensured that just as the process of government might be wearing thin, the Conservative Party was able to renew and refurbish its message, its personnel, its appeal and its coalition.”
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
“Thinktanks are expected to think the unthinkable but I don’t want us to think the unworkable. We have to think things that work politically, that is that pay some attention to whether people support them, where the costs fall and whether they work in practice."
Lord Finkelstein
Chairman of Onward and Member of the House of Lords
"There was a space on the centre right that we all knew existed but couldn't quite size, couldn't quite articulate. And then Onward came along and spoke to us about a change in politics that had been happening right under our noses. Some truths hidden in plain sight. Onward has always let the quality of its work sound the loudest. And we have all heard it."
Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
“The question is how we forge an open-feeling, forward-looking conservatism that speaks equally to all. And I believe Onward is exactly what we need.”
Baroness Davidson
Former Leader of the Scottish Conservatives and Member of the House of Lords
"The work of Onward has already, in the last three years, has been fantastic. I have followed it closely, I have pinched a whole bunch of your ideas, but I want to pinch some more ... I need the ideas and I know Onward has the energy to provide them."
Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
"One thing that struck us that was informed by the work of Onward was that to make success of levelling up we need to build the economic foundations - the good jobs and businesses that tie up productivity and innovation. But as importantly, we need also to build those social foundations, buttressing and replenishing social capital and rebuilding social infrastructure...That’s why we had quite an expansive set of medium-term missions in the White Paper spanning both economic and social missions."
Andy Haldane
Permanent Secretary for Levelling Up at the Cabinet Office
"I admire what you are doing here and we need more of it. Because what you are doing is leading an effort to rethink the meaning of conservatism and you are doing it in a way that is inviting social democrats to rethink their mission too. I think this is desperately needed."
Professor Michael Sandel
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School

Our Work

Our work is focused on the most pressing issues facing the United Kingdom today. Our five programmes are:

Levelling Up

Reducing economic disparities between places

Social Fabric

Repairing the ties that bind communities together

Getting to Zero

Practical and popular ways to decarbonise the economy

Future Politics

Understanding our changing political settlement

Science Superpower

Leading the world in the discovery and application of scientific ideas

Press

Our work is regularly featured in print, broadcast and online media, including through op-eds and broadcast interviews from the Onward team.

Times Red Box

A bold energy strategy won’t help households in the short term

Head of Energy and Climate Ed Birkett responds to the Government's latest Energy Strategy

The Yorkshire Post

Orgreave transformation shows apprenticeships are key for levelling up

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for the Yorkshire Post, citing the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in South Yorkshire as a model for integrated apprenticeship delivery

The Prospect Magazine

Want to lower energy bills? Scrapping net zero is not the answer

Senior Researcher Alex Luke writes for the Prospect on how renewables can reduce energy bills and help achieve net zero targets

Local Government Chronicle

Councils should support – not fight – community land trusts

Researcher Jenevieve Treadwell sets out the case for community land trusts and why councils should support them, citing research from our report 'The Good Life'

The House Magazine

We must break the cycle of short-termism and futureproof levelling up

Director Will Tanner writes for the House Magazine on how the success of levelling up will depend on whether it can survive a change in political leadership

London Influence

Onward and upwards

The London Influence reports on the growing Onward team and our new research programme in an exclusive interview with Director Will Tanner

Times Red Box

A bold energy strategy won’t help households in the short term

Head of Energy and Climate Ed Birkett responds to the Government's latest Energy Strategy

The Yorkshire Post

Orgreave transformation shows apprenticeships are key for levelling up

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for the Yorkshire Post, citing the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in South Yorkshire as a model for integrated apprenticeship delivery

The Prospect Magazine

Want to lower energy bills? Scrapping net zero is not the answer

Senior Researcher Alex Luke writes for the Prospect on how renewables can reduce energy bills and help achieve net zero targets

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